I got massive eye-rolls from a friend when I lined my pizza pan with foil and bought her a separate pizza cutter when she came to visit and her kids wanted a meaty pizza. It's not like I made a big deal out if it.

After reading the stories in this thread, I told my husband he better bring me food if I ever end up in the hospital! So pitiful that a hospital can't accommodate a vegan diet or fathom the idea of making a meal of vegetables, beans, and grains. Or putting seasonings on something.

I just returned it and didnt eat. My hubby had to walk out into the huge Sandy storm and get me a salad from across the street that night (10min walk one way)... And I was told this hospital was good with different ethnic backgrounds and food prefs. Uhh, okay then. Where's my veg food???

_________________~SARAH~

“I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.”

I got massive eye-rolls from a friend when I lined my pizza pan with foil and bought her a separate pizza cutter when she came to visit and her kids wanted a meaty pizza. It's not like I made a big deal out if it.

Which reminds me, for a party this past weekend, my mom made enchiladas for me, my husband and herself. My grandmother had made chicken enchiladas for everyone else. So we served ourselves enchiladas and I set them away from the chicken enchiladas. Someone at the party didn't see the spatula near the chicken ones (there was one) or didn't think to ask for a spatula but saw a spatula in our enchiladas and decided to use that one. I would've totally asked and at least she didn't put the spatula back in ours because I would've been mad.

_________________You are all a disgrace to vegans. Go f*ck yourselves, especially linanil.

I got massive eye-rolls from a friend when I lined my pizza pan with foil and bought her a separate pizza cutter when she came to visit and her kids wanted a meaty pizza. It's not like I made a big deal out if it.

Which reminds me, for a party this past weekend, my mom made enchiladas for me, my husband and herself. My grandmother had made chicken enchiladas for everyone else. So we served ourselves enchiladas and I set them away from the chicken enchiladas. Someone at the party didn't see the spatula near the chicken ones (there was one) or didn't think to ask for a spatula but saw a spatula in our enchiladas and decided to use that one. I would've totally asked and at least she didn't put the spatula back in ours because I would've been mad.

And both of these remind me that on NYE we went to my parents house, and I took stuff to make our own pizzas since they had gotten pizza out and brought it back. I made one pizza and cut it, and the other pizza was in the oven. My mom grabbed the pizza cutter and cut a piece of their pepperoni pizza in half, then put the cutter back by my pizza. She then rolled her eyes at me when I picked it up and washed it before cutting our second pizza. I didn't say anything, or act annoyed or anything (I mean, it's her house and her pizza cutter!), I just didn't want cheese and pepperoni juice on my pizza so I washed the cutter, and apparently that makes me ridiculous.

could someone please not mention my vegetarian status as the first and only thing worth talking about when introducing me to new people? I mean, really, it comes before my NAME, my status as a wacko foreigner, my profession, or anything else. This is my cousin, she's vegetarian, her name is XX; really, people, really. Also, then I start off on the wrong foot hating everybody, since i have to hear everybody's bullshitty "i only eat a little red meat when my kids raise the cow themselves".waaaaaaah

I've been ordering the tofu-bento-box for YEARS at a local sushi place. I always order miso soup with it. Since I've gone vegan this last year, I've had to ask a few more questions about the veg sushi (mayo?) tempura (eggs/dairy)? at this establishment. I've always enjoyed the service at this place and they always seemed to me have been very veg friendly.

So imagine my surprise when I was told the miso soup had fish flakes in it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but wouldn't at least a portion of your tofu-bento-box eaters be vegetarian/vegan? Wouldn't you let them know that the soup had fish in it?

what the fizzle, people.

_________________I once caught the clap from a salty navy bean on shore leave. Damn beans.--Desdemona

could someone please not mention my vegetarian status as the first and only thing worth talking about when introducing me to new people? I mean, really, it comes before my NAME, my status as a wacko foreigner, my profession, or anything else. This is my cousin, she's vegetarian, her name is XX; really, people, really. Also, then I start off on the wrong foot hating everybody, since i have to hear everybody's bullshitty "i only eat a little red meat when my kids raise the cow themselves".waaaaaaah

So many of us feel your pain; I know I do, torque.

_________________I once caught the clap from a salty navy bean on shore leave. Damn beans.--Desdemona

I've been ordering the tofu-bento-box for YEARS at a local sushi place. I always order miso soup with it. Since I've gone vegan this last year, I've had to ask a few more questions about the veg sushi (mayo?) tempura (eggs/dairy)? at this establishment. I've always enjoyed the service at this place and they always seemed to me have been very veg friendly.

So imagine my surprise when I was told the miso soup had fish flakes in it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but wouldn't at least a portion of your tofu-bento-box eaters be vegetarian/vegan? Wouldn't you let them know that the soup had fish in it?

Miso soup is one of my vegan pet peeves. Even when it is vegan (and maybe the restaurants are lying?), it's just not very good. Kinda salty, really watery, a few pieces of seaweed swimming by? I'll pass. So stop trying to talk me out of ordering without it by assuring me how vegan it is, Japanese restaurants*.

* I reserve the right to grant exceptions on a case by case basis in actual vegetarian restaurants in actual Japan.

I've been ordering the tofu-bento-box for YEARS at a local sushi place. I always order miso soup with it. Since I've gone vegan this last year, I've had to ask a few more questions about the veg sushi (mayo?) tempura (eggs/dairy)? at this establishment. I've always enjoyed the service at this place and they always seemed to me have been very veg friendly.

So imagine my surprise when I was told the miso soup had fish flakes in it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but wouldn't at least a portion of your tofu-bento-box eaters be vegetarian/vegan? Wouldn't you let them know that the soup had fish in it?

I am only now learning that on these boards, strawberryrock. I worked in a veg-friendly place years ago- City Spirit Cafe in Denver- and our miso soup did not have fish flakes in it. That was my first experience with miso soup. And since all the recipes I've encountered since (of course, they were probably all from veg cookbooks) didn't have it, I just assumed that's how everybody, everywhere made it.

I know, never assume.

_________________I once caught the clap from a salty navy bean on shore leave. Damn beans.--Desdemona

Our local sushi restaurant has claimed on several askings that their miso soup does not contain bonito flakes or dashi made from bonito flakes, so I am just believing them now. It is true that their miso tastes a little different than I remember, but it's still really good.

I think "foreign cuisine" restaurants staffed by people who do not come from cultures where vegetarianism is a normal thing generally do not understand how to serve vegetarians. There are some cultural differences that seem really difficult to bridge for whatever reason. Almost every person I know who was not born in an English-speaking country is suspicious of/distressed by/perplexed by people who do not eat animal products as a matter of ethical principles (maybe if it were just about health as an occasional thing it'd be okay), so I don't think it would occur to them to cater to that population.

Really? That hasn't been my experience. In grad school most of my friends were from the middle east or South Asia, and they all seemed to deal really well with it. It was just, like, they had their dietary restrictions that seemed wildly arbitrary to the rest of the world, and so did I. I was mortified when my Bosnian (a pretty meat-heavy cuisine) friend called up his mom as we were driving home and asked if he could bring me over for dinner, and I didn't eat any meat or dairy etc., and insisted he not ask her to go to any trouble, but she made me some of the most delicious grilled veggies and roasted potatoes I've had. I mean it was simple, yeah, but it was delicious and how many American families can pull a vegan meal out of thin air in half an hour? And Singapore, for what are probably various reasons, seemed to have at least two vegetarian stalls in every mall food court.

That's great! I have many middle eastern relations, and even though vegetarianism IS in fact hugely common in the middle east, they cannot cope with it ("it's okay as long as the meat is kosher, right?" "but fish is not meat" etc.). I would have imagined this would be different in countries with giant Hindu or Buddhist populations, but nearly all of my Asian friends are huge meat-guzzlers utterly perplexed by my veganism (except for obvious couple of Asian vegan friends). Even the family we know whose patriarch was considering abandoning them to join a buddhist monastery ran a Japanese restaurant (they are Taiwanese, actually) and served everything except for lobster because that was the one thing they'd have to kill themselves - as long as someone else killed it, they couldn't see a problem eating it. My Bulgarian coworker is utterly flummoxed by my veganism after a year and a half of working together, she has taken it upon herself to tell me several times that she's pretty sure I'm going to die from it and it's only her great politeness that prohibits her from telling me my daughter's going to die from it, too. Our friends from Africa and S. America are particularly perplexed by non-meat eating and the fact that we all have not died already. That's not to say they wouldn't be very nice and hospitable when we come over for dinner, just that if they were running a restaurant I wouldn't expect them to have thought through the vegetarian possibilities.

I was mortified when my Bosnian (a pretty meat-heavy cuisine) friend called up his mom as we were driving home and asked if he could bring me over for dinner, and I didn't eat any meat or dairy etc., and insisted he not ask her to go to any trouble, but she made me some of the most delicious grilled veggies and roasted potatoes I've had. I mean it was simple, yeah, but it was delicious and how many American families can pull a vegan meal out of thin air in half an hour?

maybe croatia is the magic land of vegan things? I say this because i bought a box of chocolate covered cherries - the kind with a whole cherry and some liqueur inside - and they were from croatia and SO good!

_________________I am not a troll. I am TELLING YOU THE ******GOD'S TRUTH****** AND YOU JUST DON'T WANT THE HEAR IT DO YOU?

And everyone I've ever stayed with or who has invited me round for a meal has done an amazing job providing me with delicious vegan food, no matter where they were from or where they lived, except my MIL. My stepmother found a recipe for a vegan spice cake and it is still one of the best cakes I've ever had, and whipped up all sorts of vegan delicacies, including veganising my favorite dishes, and she and my Dad stocked the fridge before I got there with all sorts of vegan margarine, cream, soy milk etc so I'd have nibbles if I wanted them. And we don't get along well. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've never gone round to someone's house and had them not have provided a really good meal for me.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

it is made with honey traditionally, but my mom always made it with simple syrup, i think because honey is expensive. (she'd have been better off using the honey; then i might have left her some.) i know some bakeries make the same substitution, for whatever reason, but i'd always ask.

_________________"rise from the ashes of douchebaggery like a fancy vegan phoenix" - amandabear"I'm pretty sure the moral of this story is: fork pants." - cq